PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim received a courtesy call on Wednesday (Nov 1) from his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte at Seri Perdana here as Malaysia and Netherlands continue to strengthen bilateral relations.

Rutte arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday (Oct 31) for a two-day working visit, his second visit to this country after his maiden trip in 2014.

Rutte was received by Anwar upon arrival at the Prime Minister's official residence at almost noon Wednesday before the two leaders proceeded for bilateral talks, during which they discussed bilateral relations between Malaysia and the Netherlands and exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern.

After an almost hour-long meeting, Anwar hosted a luncheon in honour of Rutte's working visit to Malaysia.

In 2022, the Netherlands was Malaysia's 14th largest trading partner and the second largest in the European Union (EU) with a trade volume of RM48.04bil (US$10.93bil), an increase of 33.4% compared to RM36.01bil (US$8.68bil) in 2021.

The Netherlands is also the largest importer of Malaysian palm oil among EU countries with 732,324.54 tonnes. - Bernama